Scents can have a huge impact on your confidence and mood. They can even transport you to different places – like a flower garden after a spring shower, a lush forest in the fall, or a smoky jazz club in the heat of summer. Other times, they can remind you of a person, place, or time in your life.
I personally have an obsession with scents – I’m constantly experimenting with new ones, forever searching for that one perfect concoction that takes me to my happiest place. (I must have over 100 samples and decants of niche, indie, and luxury perfumes just sitting idle in my drawer…with more samples on their way…)
How did my obsession start? At first it begin with more mainstream designer fragrances, like ones from Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani. But it wasn’t until I discovered the world of indie and luxury perfume artisans that my interest really started to grow. They offered a whole new world of exotic, complex, and imaginative scents – ones that you just don’t come across on a regular basis (unless you live in say, Paris). I began experimenting with scents by the tens, ordering sample sets from sites like Lucky Scent, Surrender To Chance, The Perfumed Court, and The Posh Peasant, which I continue to frequent to this day.
Since starting my ‘collection’, I’ve also been experimenting with different perfume subscription services like Bergamot (who are now sadly out of business), and Olfactif (still going strong). Both focus on indie and niche brands, like The Imaginary Authors, Le’Artisan, MDCI, Diptyque, along with a bunch I’d never even heard of. Most recently, I’ve been trying out a relatively new perfume subscription, called Scentbird. Here are my first impressions of their perfume subscription service.
Scentbird Monthly Perfume Subscription
With Scentbird’s monthly perfume subscription, you receive what I would call a ‘deluxe’ sample of one perfume of your choice each month, along with a case in your first month (as shown above), for $14.95/month.
What you get with Scentbird’s monthly fragrance subscription:
- Monthly perfume refill that lasts one month (8ml in size)
- Your choice of a perfume (choose from their 350+ perfume selection, which includes designer, and a few luxury and niche perfumes)
- A sleek-looking, reusable, purse-friendly case that fits your perfume decants
How is Scentbird different from other perfume subscriptions out there? Well, 1) you get to pick you fragrance you receive, instead of them choosing for you, and 2) you get to try out a deluxe sized fragrance per month, versus 3 smaller samples.
The decant can be easily removed from the case and swapped out with a different fragrance.
Scentbird Review
When you first sign up, Scentbird will ask you to take a quick quiz on their website, which they’ll then use to provide you with some personalized perfume recommendations. You can also skip the quiz, and instead explore outside of their suggested perfumes – which I ended up doing. After around 20 minutes of browsing through their entire perfume selection, I finally decided on Tom Ford Black Orchid, (values at around $26 for 8 ml, so it was a steal!).
My new perfume shipped out pretty quickly – I received it in less than a week. Paying ~$15 for a generously sized decent is a bit of a gamble, but luckily, I fell in love with the scent I’d picked out (it’s exotic and perfect for Fall!), and have been carrying it around in my purse ever since. The supply was more than enough to last me a month, and then some (assuming no more than a spray or two a day).
After going through the entire process of picking out, receiving, and testing out my first perfume, I decided to pull together what I liked about Scentbird, along with some things I wasn’t too crazy about.
What I liked:
- You get a decent amount of perfume for the price (8 ml sample), considering shipping is also included
- You get to choose the perfume you receive (you can even order your favorites over and over again if you want)
- Your first order comes with a sleek looking case that’s perfect for travel
- Scentbird’s website is very well-designed, easy to navigate, and just plain fun to browse
- They feature user reviews of each perfume on the site to help you in your decision process
What I didn’t like so much:
- You only get to sample one perfume per month (so if you don’t like it, you have to wait 30 days until you get a new bottle)
- Their overall perfume selection is somewhat limited (I would love to see more indie/niche brands added into the mix!)
Final Thoughts
Overall, Scentbird is definitely a service to check out if you frequently like to mix up your perfume and don’t want to commit to buying full size bottles, or if you’re relatively new to perfumes and want to experiment a bit. (Though for the true beginner, I’d suggest picking up a few perfume sample sets from Surrender to Chance, where you’ll get more variety for the price.)
And for all the ‘perfume enthusiasts’ out there, while you may find their selection to be slightly limited, Scentbird is still a very cost-effective way to add some new scents to your current collection. Even if you only like 2 out of every 3 scents you receive, it’s still a steal!
Want to try out Scentbird? Use my invite link here to sign up for your 1st month, and you’ll get your 2nd month for free!
Are you a big perfume collector? Have you tried a perfume subscription service?
*Sample generously provided for review consideration.
